R.I.P. ROMANTIC COMEDIES

Meg Ryan’s monster success as the Queen of Feel-Good Date Movies is long gone. Outside of Julia Roberts, there are no clear successors to Ryan’s romantic comedy reign, but Kate Hudson (How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Raising Helen) is doing her best. Drew Barrymore is charming but inconsistent (Never Been Kissed, Fever Pitch). I love Diane Lane, but Must Love Dogs felt a tad stale (John Cusack was much better in Serendipity but should stick to films like High Fidelity). And from now on, it would be great if both Amanda Peet and Cameron Diaz would avoid this genre altogether. So when it comes to contemporary romantic comedies, I’ll stick with movies like Love Actually or Hitch.